Wilson advances, Latvala continues to impress
With three stages completed on this second leg of Rally Ireland, Jari-Matti Latvala holds his overnight position in third, reducing the gap to second placed Dani Sordo. The 22-year-old’s speed has improved even further today as he set top-two stage times on all three tests, failing to take the fastest time on stage 13 by a miniscule 0.1 seconds.
The Finn’s Stobart VK M-Sport Ford team-mate Matthew Wilson has also been treated to a profitable morning advancing one place up the leaderboard to seventh overall. The only concern for Wilson this morning was a half-spin on stage 13 which lost him ten seconds when he spun under-braking on shiny tar.
Norwegian Henning Solberg continued this morning after retiring from leg 1 when his Stobart Ford Focus RS WRC06 left the road and became stuck down an embankment. Solberg still has an important job on his hands as he looks to secure three manufacturer points for his team.
This morning’s stages offered a slightly cleaner and faster surface but still troubled competitors with the mixed surface and sections where WRC crews have taken big cuts and dragged mud across the road. Shiny tar and a constant fall of rain also keep conditions unpredictable for all crews as Rally Ireland maintains its status as one of the trickiest events of 2007.
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Driver Jari-Matti Latvala said:
“It’s been a pretty good morning for me and we have been going steady with no dramas. I am very happy with my times this morning especially as the conditions are still very difficult. The first stage had a greasy coating but the other two had quite an abrasive surface and the grip was pretty good. For sure if this rally was in summer time it would be a much more enjoyable event. Our tyre choice this morning was correct and everything was good with the car and my feeling now is quite comfortable.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Driver Matthew Wilson said:
“We had a pretty average morning and conditions are still very difficult. The first two stages worked well for me and we just had a small overshoot on the little stage dropping about five seconds. I have been desperately trying to keep out of trouble and avoid the chaos; we have lost four people already this morning so it just goes to show how difficult conditions are. Gareth MacHale has experience of today’s stages from last year so I expected him to be going fast this morning.”
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Driver Henning Solberg said:
“Conditions today are actually much better than yesterday and the tyres we used this morning felt really good. The main thing now for me is to not make any more mistakes and make sure of the points for the team. The car feels really good but for sure I will be concentrating this afternoon as conditions are still very slippery. I am just going to take things slowly for the rest of this rally as we have to work together for these manufacturer points.”
Leaderboard after SS13
1. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4 2h 02m 01.1sec
2. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4 +50.7sec
3. J M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS +1m38.2sec
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS +2m29.1sec
5. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza +2m41.7sec
6. G Wilks/P Pugh GB Subaru Impreza +5m02.3sec
7. M Wilson/M Orr GB Ford Focus RS +8m19.8sec
8. G MacHale/A Harryman IRL Ford Focus RS +8m53.0sec
9. M Higgins/S Martin GB Mitsubishi Lancer +11m19.4sec
10. A Mikkelsen/O Floene N Ford Focus RS +12m13.3sec
30. H Solberg/G Bergsten N Ford Focus RS +18m35.9sec